Jon Corzine on Government Reform

Democratic Jr Senator (NJ)

Crack down on "pay-to-play"

Unveiling a 10-point plan he said would punish criminal officeholders and cut down on conflicts of interest, Christie blamed Corzine's "failure of leadership" for allowing corruption to fester. He said the governor has put politics ahead of principles an
failed to implement strong ethics laws that Corzine himself campaigned on in 2005. "If the governor had the will to lead, some of the things on this list would be done," Christie said. "He always feels great despair after people are arrested, and he's
willing to stand up and fight--and then the minute the political bosses and his patrons in the Legislature push back, he falls back on his back."

Corzine's campaign hit back with the latest in a series of television advertisements designed to undermine
Christie's own ethics. The ad highlights Christie's past as a fundraiser for former President George W. Bush, who appointed Christie as US Attorney. The ad labels that pay-to-play, a practice Christie and Corzine have pledged to crack down on.

Only NJ governor in 60 years to reduce size of government

The most important things become more obvious when you have shrinking resources. Because Jon Corzine made the right choices, he is the only New Jersey governor in over six decades to reduce the size of state government.
The budget that he signed into law on June 29th is $1.8 billion smaller than the first budget he signed in 2006.

Even as he made government leaner and more efficient, Governor Corzine launched a first-in-the-nation Economic Assistance and
Recovery Plan; instituted a new school funding formula; expedited billions of dollars in new school construction; made meaningful and lasting reforms to ease our state's property tax burden; enrolled
80,000 more children in the state's health insurance program; and, took a child welfare system that was once rated among the worst in the country, and made it one of the best.

Vote on passage of H.R. 2356; Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (Shays-Meehan bill, House equivalent of McCain-Feingoldf bill). Vote to ban “soft money” contributions to national political parties but permit up to $10,000 in soft money contributions to state and local parties to help with voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives. The bill would stop issue ads from targeting specific candidates within 30 days of the primary or 60 days of the general election. Additionally, the bill would raise the individual contribution limit from $1,000 to $2,000 per election for House and Senate candidates, both of which would be indexed for inflation.

Voted NO on require photo ID (not just signature) for voter registration.

Motion to Table Schumer Amdt. No. 2937; To permit the use of a signature or personal mark for the purpose of verifying the identity of voters who register by mail, and for other purposes. Voting Yes would kill the amendment. The amendment would allow a signature to identify voters who register by mail, instead of requiring showing photo identification or other proof of residence before being allowed to vote.

Voted YES on banning campaign donations from unions & corporations.

Vote to ban soft money donations to political parties and forbid corporate general funds and union general funds from being spent on issue ads. The bill would increase the individual contribution limit to candidates from $1,000 to $2,000.

Reject photo ID requirements for voting.

Corzine co-sponsored rejecting photo ID requirements for voting

OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: Expresses the sense of Congress that:

a requirement that U.S. citizens obtain photo identification cards before being able to vote has not been shown to ensure ballot integrity and places an undue burden on citizens' legitimate voting rights; (

the Department of Justice should challenge any state law that limits a citizen's ability to vote based on discriminatory photo identification requirements; and

any effort to impose national photo identification requirements for voting should be rejected.

SPONSOR'S INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: Sen. OBAMA: I am submitting a resolution to express the Senate's strong disapproval of recent efforts to disenfranchise Americans. Unfortunately, too many electoral reform efforts seem intent on limiting access to the ballot as opposed to expanding it. In the mid-20th century, the poll tax was the preferred means of disenfranchising large minority populations, specifically
African Americans. Today, the poll tax is taking on a new form--a photo identification requirement for voters.

According to the National Commission on Federal Election Reform, such a requirement would "impose an additional expense on the exercise of the franchise, a burden that would fall disproportionately on people who are poorer and urban." Nevertheless, a number of States, including Georgia, have recently passed laws mandating government-issued photo identification for voters at the polls. Nationwide, at least 12% of eligible drivers do not have a driver's license. And Georgia has made it difficult for rural and urban folks to obtain their voter photo identification.

The Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform acknowledges that there is "no evidence of extensive fraud in U.S. elections or of multiple voting."

LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME:Referred to Senate Committee on Rules and Administration; never came to a vote.